If you thought social media was going to give Justin Timberlake a pass, you were wrong.

Timberlake's Super Bowl halftime performance drew mixed reaction across the Twitterverse, but there's no denying that Prince fans weren't too happy with JT's tribute to the iconic Minneapolis musician, who died in 2016.

Timberlake showcased a number of his own hits during the set but included a performance of Prince's I Would Die 4 U with a giant projection of the artist on a large billowing sheet behind the stage.

After Sheila E, a close Prince friend, tweeted that Timberlake assured her there would be no Prince hologram in his show, many expressed relief on social media.

Family, I spoke w/Justin 2nite and he shared heartfelt words of respect for Prince & the Purple fans. I look 4wrd 2 seeing what I’m sure is going 2 be a spectacular halftime show. There is no hologram. 🙏🏽💋 pic.twitter.com/mhVXBfBa1B

But then the show actually happened and, well, it wasn't a hologram, it was sort of similar. And fans didn't think the Purple One would approve. Representatives for the Prince estate did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's query about whether they had a say in the tribute.

In a 1998 interview with Guitar World magazine, Prince was asked directly about the use of digital editing to "create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past." He was not a fan.

"That's the most demonic thing imaginable," he said. "Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing ... it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song (Free As A Bird), manipulating John Lennon's voice to have him singing from across the grave ... that'll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control."